Real Garden Wedding {Roxy & Craig}

Sometimes I just can’t believe the talent I come across in this industry. Last week’s bride was an amazing designer, and today’s is an incredible baker – her cakes are totally swoonworthy. More about that later this week, because today it’s all about her beautiful wedding (okay, it’s a little about her cake). Roxy and Craig were married in Constantia before moving on to a lush garden reception at her family home nearby. There’s something special about having a wedding at home, isn’t there? I love the idea of being reminded of that moment every time you visit, and being surrounded by your nearest and dearest in a familiar place.

Roxy and Craig’s wedding comes courtesy of the delightful folks over at Wedding Concepts. Their work is always so elegant and shows such attention to detail, and I’m so happy to be able to share it with you! (You can visit their blog here, and don’t forget their sister company Travel Concepts for your honeymoon planning.) Photographs are by Ryan Graham, who I am also thrilled to feature for the first time, since I’m a long-time fan of his work.

Both Roxy and her wedding co-ordinator Kim Werner sent me their comments on this magical garden celebration.

Roxy: Craig and I met in the first week of university in 2001 and have been together ever since. For our wedding, we wanted a relaxed atmosphere to share with family and close friends and aimed to create a chic and understated ambience using a palette of white with touches of green and muted gold, and by being creative with lighting and candles. We always knew we wanted to get married somewhere we felt totally at home and the idea of an elegant garden wedding really appealed to us.

Kim: The look for Roxy and Craig’s wedding was fresh summery blooms combined with crystal chandeliers. The marquee was strategically assembled over the swimming pool and the lush gardens were lit up around the marquee so that the romantic mood could spill out into the lounge pockets positioned in the gardens.

(I adore the little flowerpots at each setting and the glasses – they add just the right touch of green to the table. And love these mismatched silver pieces!)

(OMG, just look at that cake!)

Roxy: I am completely obsessed with popcorn so we had a popcorn machine for everyone to dip into during the pre-drinks, and our menu also had lots of personal elements to it. For the tables, I made white appliqué biscuits for each guest and filled cookie jars with butterfly, bird and frill biscuits on the dessert table. My sister and I visited an amazing sweet factory where we collected the vanilla, cinnamon and apple sweets which we used to fill the other cookie jars. Our lemon sponge wedding cake was a true work of art made by my mentor, Peggy Porschen, who is one of the UK’s top cake makers. It was unbelievably special having her at our wedding, let alone having our cake made by her. I loved having it served with home-made limoncello liqueur.

(I think those lampshades over the dancefloor are one of my favourite design features ever – so eye-catching!)

Kim: The unique white and caramel checked dancefloor set the stage for a night of dancing like no other! The couple had a band during dinner and then a DJ kept everyone boogying until 4am the next morning.

Roxy: On the day, the décor and surroundings were so beautiful – it all felt like a dream. Having everyone we loved around us all there to support us was just the most amazing feeling, and we loved how relaxed everyone was and how much fun they had.